New Place Players – Bios
Listings in alphabetical order by categoryCAST
Jorge Carrión Álvarez (Romeo) is an actor from Madrid, Spain. He holds an MFA in Acting from the Actors Studio Drama School. He’s currently working on his first feature film, The Flesh People. New York acting credits: Chasing Andy Warhol (Off-Broadway), Beatrice (the Cell), and Antony and Cleopatra (Hamlet Isn’t Dead).
Anna Bikales (Nurse; Principal Musician) is a harpist, director, actor, choreographer, and composer (B.A. in Dance Choreography & B.M. in Harp from the Conservatory at Bard College, MFA in Directing from The Actors Studio Drama School at PACE University. Recent work includes playing with Ensemble Mise-En, Contemporaneous, Beth Morrison Projects, MUR Experimental Theater Company, and Mabou Mines. Anna is an SDC Associate, and is a member of ASCAP and SAG-AFTRA.
Flavio Gaete (Peter, Mercutio, Friar Lawrence, Balthazar; Music Director) has worked as a musician, sound designer, actor, arts administrator and teacher for the last 20+ years. He has collaborated with a wide variety of ensembles in music, theater, film, and dance. Some of his latest collaborations have been with film composer Renaud Barbier for his latest film soundtrack, Petit Pays, filmmaker Rodrigo Monterrey, and the Orquesta de Cámara de Chile. Flavio has taught at the Rudolf Steiner School, the Institute of Audio Research, and has been a guest lecturer at Sciences Po Paris-Reims, NY University and Dubspot in NYC. Flavio has also played with various orchestras and ensembles, including the Orquesta de Cámara de Chile, Distinguished Concerts International NY, The Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, the Manhattan Camerata, Nikolett Pankovits and various others, having performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, among others.
Kenji Golden (Musician) is a senior at LaGuardia High School. As a classical string player, he is the principal violist in LaGuardia’s Philharmonic Orchestra and the concertmaster for LaGuardia’s production of The Gondoliers. Kenji is the bassist for an alternative rock band, Matter of Minutes, and is coming out with a new album this spring.
As a theater musician, he has been in the pit of productions such as The Addams Family, A Christmas Carol, and Les Miserables. He was also the solo musician for the John Jay College production of Seeing Rape in 2023.
Kenji will be attending NYU Steinhardt for violin performance in the fall.
Libby Lindsey (Juliet) is an actor born and raised in Alabama as a middle child. Before Libby fell in love with acting, she was a ballet dancer. She holds an MFA in Acting from ASDS at Pace University, a BA in Theatre from Wofford College, and studied abroad at LAMDA. New York Credits: Heroes of the Fourth Turning (ASDS Rep), The Glass Menagerie (Polaris North), Last Rites (ASDS Rep), Love’s Labor’s Lost (Theatre 315), Grown Ups (UNFIX NYC). Select Regional Credits: Insulted Belarus, and Tightrope (Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga). Film Credits: Outen the Light Feature Film (Girlsoup).
Maximilian Macdonald (Romeo) is an actor, multi-hyphenate based between London, New York and LA. British by birth he began by performing in his first feature film at 3 years old playing David Tennant and Emily Mortimer’s son in ‘Bright Young Things’ in 2003 and was further called to acting as he grew up. Maximilian got his Bachelors in Acting at ALRA in London, then travelled to the world renowned Actors Studio Drama School in New York City in 2020. After class, Maximilian would rush out of the studio’s downtown residence and perform in his evenings, for a long time playing Stefan in New York Times featured cult hit, ‘Dimes Square’. Upon his graduation in 2023, Maximilian’s experience at the Actors Studio MFA culminated by being awarded their coveted Acting Excellence Award.
Since then he’s been involved in various projects including the development and performance of new plays, films, TV and was kindly referred to Director, Greta SeaCat at the Actors Studio, to join as Tuzenbach in her production of Chekhov’s 'Three Sisters'. Maximilian kicked off 2024 with a lead role in the film ‘Will I See You Again’, which took him to Paris and couldn’t be happier to be working with the talented artists at the New Place Players as their Romeo.
Clara Tristan (Juliet) is a Latin American actress from Panama. Her profound love for experiencing and developing her craft as an actress have lead her to New York.
New York credits include Sassafras and The Captain by Sarah Elizabeth Brown (Outstanding Actress in a Comedy); The Future is Female by Nandita Shenoy, Pegao by Cin Martinez: both regional runs, and the Off-Broadway run of Two Girls, directed by Karen Carpenter. Among her film credits include The Unknown (TVN Series), The Retrievers (Adam Johns), Fallen from the Sky (Gino Casasola Productions).
She has received training worldwide with international figures such as Susan Aston, Tito Ochoa, Ted Gregory, Monalisa Arias and Juanfer and Esteban Roel; all in different techniques for film and stage.
CREATIVE TEAM
Craig Bacon (Executive Director, Artistic Director, President) is a director, actor, and voice teacher designated by Kristin Linklater in 1998 to teach her technique “Freeing the Natural Voice”. He has taught at the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University since 2011 and other faculty appointments include SUNY Purchase, Columbia University, Fordham University, NYU (Atlantic Theater Company), National Theater Institute (US and UK), The Actors Centre (London), The Linklater Center, and Shakespeare & Co. (Lenox, MA). Some of Craig’s directing work includes The Mercury Theatre in England (Macbeth, The Tempest, The Crucible); SUNY Purchase (The Winter’s Tale, By the Bog of Cats, and LAByrinth Theater Company’s One-Acts co-directed with Richard Crawford). He is founder and artistic director of New Place Players where he directed Twelfth Night and co-directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream with James Ortiz. Some of Craig’s extensive acting work includes Prospero in The Tempest (New Place Players); Henry IV, Pt. 1; Much Ado About Nothing; Merry Wives of Windsor (Shakespeare & Co.); Cymbeline; The Rover; Twelfth Night (Lincoln Center Inst.); One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf; A Christmas Carol (American Drama Group, Europe); Kenneth Lonergan’s Borderlines; Off-Shore Wind w/William Hickey, and Sunday’s Child w/Celeste Holm (HB Playwrights). Craig trained extensively with Uta Hagen, Herbert Berghof, Tina Packer, and of course his mentor, the master teacher Kristin Linklater.
Flavio Gaete (Music Director, Managing Director) has worked as a musician, sound designer, actor, arts administrator and teacher for the last 20+ years. He has collaborated with a wide variety of ensembles in music, theater, film, and dance. Some of his latest collaborations have been with film composer Renaud Barbier for his latest film soundtrack, Petit Pays, filmmaker Rodrigo Monterrey, and the Orquesta de Cámara de Chile. Flavio has taught at the Rudolf Steiner School, the Institute of Audio Research, and has been a guest lecturer at Sciences Po Paris-Reims, NY University and Dubspot in NYC. Flavio has also played with various orchestras and ensembles, including the Orquesta de Cámara de Chile, Distinguished Concerts International NY, The Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, the Manhattan Camerata, Nikolett Pankovits and various others, having performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, among others.
Cristian Gastelo (Illustrator, Graphic Designer) Designer, illustrator, photographer and Co-Founder of CG Artist of ASTRO-Image Creators Studio. He has worked with renown agencies and brands such as Coca-Cola, General Motors, Ford, Nestlé, Teatro Nacional De Chile, Banco Central de Chile, Viña Concha & Toro, among many more. Cannes 2009 Silver Lion Scrabble Campaign. Cannes 2008 Ford Campaign Finalist.
Julian Gastelo (Filmmaker) Public affairs, social research, and communication. his company Etnografic produces: research, analysis and content, dealing with social, economic, cultural and political issues, at a local or global level, with the purpose of informing, advocating and creating. Since 2003: Paris > New York > Santiago > Brussels.
His film work includes documentary film, ethnographic film, photography, photo-voice, visual anthropology, visual sociology, visual ethnography, digital ethnography, visual research, video installation, photo & video exhibition, participatory video action research, audio-visual public opinion & market research.
Clients: Unesco, Ministère de l’Education Nationale, Ministerio de las Culturas y las Artes, Ministère de l'Agriculture, Amnesty International, Public Agenda Foundation, Fundación América Solidaria, Fondation SNCF, Fondation l'Arc, L’Adapt, Agence de la Biomédecine, La Mutualité Française, Lilly, AbbVie, Virbac, Reckitt Nenckiser, Microsoft, Yahoo, Ubisoft, Orange, SFR, Canal+, Fnac, Fiat, Valéo, Keolis, SNCF, Aéroports de Paris, Accor, JCDecaux, L’Oréal, Franck Provost, Richemont Group, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Chanel, BIC, Française des Jeux, Leclerc, Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Monoprix, Leclerc, Ipsos, Harris Interactive, Sipa Press, Kunsthalle Basel, Corporacion Cultural Las Condes, Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp, etc.
Rose Kanj (Production Manager, Stage Manager, Actor) is a NYC-based actress, vocalist, and improviser. She is passionate about the art of storytelling and especially loves to collaborate on new works. Recently Rose wrote, produced, and starred in her own autobiographical cabaret, Rose Kanj: Loving Me, at Theaterlab. Other select credits include: Emilia & Bianca in Othello (New Place Players); Emilie in The Moors and Brenda in Election Day (ASDS Repertory Season); Valerie in Record (The Tank & Alchemical Studios); and Wrestling With Freedom by Jacqui Parker (Hibernian Hall). MFA, Acting from Actors Studio Drama School; BA, Music from Berklee College of Music.
@rose.kanj
rosekanj.com
Shawn Lewis (Set Design) The artist’s hand that you see in this space is Clara Aich, and I’m so blessed that Craig brought Casa Clara and Clara’s remarkable space to NPP. I’m a set designer based in Brooklyn. I design throughout the United States and abroad with a focus on new work and unique spaces. I teach collaboration to actors, directors, and playwrights at the Actors Studio Drama School and was Executive Director and Resident Set Designer for the ASDS Rep since its inception 25 years ago. In addition to scenic design, I design theater complexes and performance venues.
Aaron McDaniel (Production Manager, Fight Director, Actor) Previous shows with New Place Players: Othello, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest. Other credits include: The Woodsman (New World Stages). Enchanted April, The Bungler, Tartuffe, Charlie’s Aunt, & Love’s Labour’s Lost (Shakespeare Theater of NJ). Macbeth, Cyrano De Bergerac, & Taming of the Shrew (Aquila Theater). TV: A Crime to Remember, The Food That Built America. Fight Direction: The Woodsman (New World Stages), Family (Signature). Asst Fight Direction: Newsies! (Paper Mill Playhouse), Aladdin (New Amsterdam).
Reza Mirjalili (Videographer, Photographer) is a New York City based actor, photographer and film director, born and raised in Iran. He is currently earning his MFA in Acting at the Actors Studio Drama School where he is being trained in Strasberg’s Method. His recent credit is Sciarrone in Tosca (Heartbeat Festival)
Before moving to the US, Reza got his BA in Film Directing from Tehran University of Art in Iran, while simultaneously taking acting classes. This led to his performances at “Independent Theater of Tehran” and “Molavi Hall” in Tehran. He also acted in short films, a radio play for national radio, and did voice-overs for short documentaries for national TV. He sends his love to the people of Iran, whom he’d love to represent through his art.
Janina Picard (Director, Operations) is a German-born actor, director and teacher of dreamwork for artists based in NYC.
With over a decade of professional experience working as stage and film actor in both Europe and the United States her directorial vision is deeply influenced by working with the unconscious.
She assisted, trained and studied extensively with her mentor Sandra Seacat in Los Angeles and has furthered her studies of dreamwork with the C.G. Jung Institute Berlin and the C.G. Jung Centre Dublin.
She has been coaching artists privately and teaching workshops internationally since 2020.
PRODUCTION TEAM
Grace Carter (Grant Writer) is an arts administrator and writer living and working in Akron, Ohio. She earned her B.A. in art history with a minor in pre-law from Kent State University and her M.A. in arts administration from The University of Akron.
Grace serves as Systems Administrator at ArtsNow, the backbone arts organization of Summit County, Ohio, in addition to running her freelance writing business. She also writes art exhibition reviews and artist profiles for CAN Journal, a northeast Ohio-based arts publication. Her past positions at Summit Artspace, the Kent State University School of Art, and Worthington Yards have allowed her to support local artists through storytelling, marketing, and digital media.
Leah Michalos/Michalos Management (General Manager) is an entertainment management, producing and consulting firm with over 16 years’ experience in both commercial and nonprofit entertainment ventures. Broadway: lead producing team, Chicken & Biscuits (Circle in the Square). Select credits include: The Orchard with Jessica Hecht and Mikhail Baryshnikov, The Lucky Star, Renee Taylor’s My Life on a Diet (Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle nom.), Terms of Endearment with Molly Ringwald, Butler, A Better Place, The Road to Damascus, Murder in the First, Poetic License, The Best of Everything. Film: Executive Producer: Beau, a new musical. Director: GABBY Awards at Carnegie Hall, El Capitan (LA) and Ellis Island.
Katie Rosin/Kampfire PR (Press) Off-Broadway highlights include: The Lucky Star, 59E59; The Little Match Girl, St. Luke’s; unFRAMED, John Jay College Performing Arts Center; GLAAD Award Nominee, She Like Girls, Ohio Theater; Glimpses of the Moon, Algonquin Hotel; IT Awards recipient, Elizabeth Rex, Center Stage; Mother Load, Sage Theater; Triple Threat: 2007 Drama Desk Nominee (mis)UNDERSTANDING MAMMY: The Hattie McDaniel Story, Theater 5. She most recently served as Director of Communications at the Broadway Podcast Network.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Craig Bacon (Executive Director, Artistic Director, President) is a director, actor, and voice teacher designated by Kristin Linklater in 1998 to teach her technique “Freeing the Natural Voice”. He has taught at the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University since 2011 and other faculty appointments include SUNY Purchase, Columbia University, Fordham University, NYU (Atlantic Theater Company), National Theater Institute (US and UK), The Actors Centre (London), The Linklater Center, and Shakespeare & Co. (Lenox, MA). Some of Craig’s directing work includes The Mercury Theatre in England (Macbeth, The Tempest, The Crucible); SUNY Purchase (The Winter’s Tale, By the Bog of Cats, and LAByrinth Theater Company’s One-Acts co-directed with Richard Crawford). He is founder and artistic director of New Place Players where he directed Twelfth Night and co-directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream with James Ortiz. Some of Craig’s extensive acting work includes Prospero in The Tempest (New Place Players); Henry IV, Pt. 1; Much Ado About Nothing; Merry Wives of Windsor (Shakespeare & Co.); Cymbeline; The Rover; Twelfth Night (Lincoln Center Inst.); One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf; A Christmas Carol (American Drama Group, Europe); Kenneth Lonergan’s Borderlines; Off-Shore Wind w/William Hickey, and Sunday’s Child w/Celeste Holm (HB Playwrights). Craig trained extensively with Uta Hagen, Herbert Berghof, Tina Packer, and of course his mentor, the master teacher Kristin Linklater.
Hale Gurland (Treasurer) is a helicopter pilot, accomplished sculptor with expertise in welding, painting and photography. He exhibits internationally, and his works can be found in private and public collections worldwide. Harper’s Magazine featured Gurland’s photographs from 9/11 when he rushed to Ground Zero with his torches, tanks, and gauges and worked for a week by night cutting steel in the recovery efforts, capturing on film extraordinary images of the proceedings. A 25-photograph portfolio was purchased by the National 9/11 Museum. He is currently a board member of University Settlement, which partners with 40,000 New Yorkers on the Lower East Side and in Brooklyn every year to build on their strengths as they achieve healthy, stable, and remarkable lives. For 135 years, they have collaborated with communities to pioneer highly effective programs that fight poverty and systemic inequality.
Liz Gurland (Secretary) is an accomplished actor and singer based in New York City. She is currently performing as Vi Moore in Footloose at the MacHaydn Theater. Past roles there include: Josephine Strong in Urinetown, Woman 3 in And the World Goes ‘Round, Grandma in Pippin, Fräulein Schneider in Cabaret, Angie in The Wedding Singer and Miss Lynch in Grease. Liz appeared as Helen in Fun Home at Hubbard Hall earlier this year. Additionally, she has performed with such diverse organizations as Theatre Now New York, Gallery Players, The Phoenix Theatre (PA), La MaMa E.T.C. and New Jersey Verismo Opera. She created a one-woman show in collaboration with the Emily Dickinson Museum. While earning her MFA at UC Irvine, she performed with Starlight Musical Theater in San Diego, Los Angeles Opera, Long Beach Opera and Aspen Opera Theater. Beyond her acting experience, Liz was a mergers & acquisitions attorney for over 20 years, working as an associate at Clifford Chance, supporting the M&A team at Siemens Corporation and leading the M&A team at Panasonic.